


Miss Americana

by onlyhereforellick



Series: Fictober ‘19 [15]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, High School AU, fictober 19, mention of: depression/revenge porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 03:24:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21047498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyhereforellick/pseuds/onlyhereforellick
Summary: “Anytime, Ellie anytime.” And the fierce look in his eyes did nothing to her, at least that’s what she’d tell anyone else watching. They couldn’t feel her pulse race, breathing quicken, body yearning.





	Miss Americana

**Author's Note:**

> fictober 19; prompt 15: “That’s what I’m talking about!”
> 
> the series no one asked for but you’re all getting: high school Ellick AU 🙃

Returning to school the following Monday took every ounce of strength and grit in Ellie. That and some very firm words from Momma Bishop. She had seen her therapist at an emergency session Sunday afternoon and it had helped, a bit. She knew it would be hard to face the crowds, but she could do it. She could suck it up for the last year of high school and then get the hell out of Oklahoma. All she prayed for was to avoid the mysterious stranger who saw her bawling in the locker room, that was almost more humiliating somehow. To the rest of the school, she was holding it together, at least, that’s what she’d show them.

Sunday night she realized the best way to put on a brave face was to play into the stereotype. The typical “Miss Americana” was dead to her, it was time to become the bad girl. She donned tight black jeans, a low cut fitted shirt, and her only red lipstick. Her battle armor, so to speak, was ready, but was she?

The whispers were barely contained, but she tried to let it fuel her as best she could...

_ Did you see her? _

_ Who knew scarecrow was hiding all  that ? _

_ If it isn’t the school’s bad,  bad girl... _

The first week wore on and as much as she’d hoped to let their words fuel her, it wasn’t working. And weirdly enough, she hadn’t even seen stranger, as she’d come to call him. She couldn’t put her finger on why  _ that _ made her even sadder than the hurtful words thrown her way. He was the last person she should want to see.

The second Monday after the incident wasn’t much different. She put on her “uniform” and applied heavy smokey eye shadow to hide the bags forming from her insomnia returning. If she thought the school would forget about it by week two, she was sadly mistaken. Apparently, they decided to become more forthright with their whispers.

Walking down the hallway, the crowds normally gave her a wide berth. Except this time, the soccer team strutted down the hallways to get ready for practice and made no moves to give her room. Bolstering fake confidence she held her chin high and ground her jaw together. She was aimed to walk straight into Thomas, determined to show him she didn’t give a flying f—

“Daaaaamn scarecrow!” shouted one player.

At the same time the guy to Thomas’ left yelled, “DUDE. You hit that??” Thomas had the audacity to look smug as he nodded, staring straight into Ellie’s soul.

Another one decided to chime in, “That’s what I’m talking about! Alright Adonis!” With a prompt bro-five to Thomas and a few other teammates. 

Ellie tried to stop her lower lip from trembling, she tried, really she did. But it trembled nonetheless. She saw Thomas lock in on the motion and for a brief second, regret and guilt washed across his face. But when a fourth teammate started to massage his shoulders and hype him up, the carefree mask returned. 

Ellie bolted through their groupand ran for the only place she knew would be empty at this time of day, the library. 

She made it to her favorite reading chair till she broke down and silently cried. Her muted sobs hopefully wouldn’t catch the attention of the half asleep librarian several yards, and stacks, away from her. Head in her hands, make up streaming down her face, she allowed herself to feel the humiliation and shame that she kept shoving into the deep recesses of her mind. Her therapist warned her of this, but she hadn’t listened, she thought she was stronger. You know, mind over matter and all that. Boy was she wrong.

“Not that it’s not nice to see you, but I feel like I don’t have the best timing...” came a familiar voice from the other chair in the corner.

Head shooting out of her hands and wiping furiously at her cheeks, trying to reign in the rogue mascara, she locked eyes with the stranger. “What-, what are you doing here?” She became defensive quickly, “Can’t you find somewhere else to sit?”

Feigning shock with a hand to his chest, the stranger retorted, “Well first, you sat next to me... And second, I uh- go here? So it’s my library too?”

Tears forgotten for a brief moment by his annoying wit, her mouth set in a straight line. She had no comeback, she was fresh out of energy to care. 

She started to gather her books and find somewhere else to wallow, when he spoke up again. “Hey, no, no. Sorry, I didn’t mean it, I can leave. You’ve dealt with enough assholes, I didn’t mean to be one, too.”

She let out a sniffle followed by a sigh, “No, it’s okay, you weren’t. I know you aren’t an asshole.” She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did. Deep down, the stranger was nice, had a big heart. Why else would he still be talking to  _ her _ of all people?

“Good. I uh- I’m here if you want to talk about it—“ she made a disgusted face, “or, or not! We can talk about anything else if you want to.”

“I don’t usually do that.” She stated hoping to sound stronger than she felt. 

He held up his hands in mock surrender, “hey, I wouldn’t judge you if you did. But...I had a feeling you didn’t. You don’t seem the type.”

“Oh, because I’m not sexy? Because I’m nerdy?” She went back on the defensive, hair on the back of her neck standing on end. 

He took a hand and rubbed his face, “No, no, shit. That came out wrong. First off, you’re beautiful. Don’t ever doubt that. Next, you don’t seem the type to date assholes like that, so obviously you got duped, bad. And that’s not cool. Finally, who the hell cares if you’re a nerd? Nerds can be hot.” He finished his short monologue with a wink. 

She felt a blush creep up her neck and fill her cheeks. The first blush and genuine smile she’d had in a while. She said softly, “thanks,” while ducking her eyes from his intense gaze.

“So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way- Hi, I’m Nick.” He extended a hand for her to shake.

Hesitantly she took his hand and almost took it right back at the spark she felt when touching his skin. “Hi- uh, hi, I’m Ellie.”

“So shall we start over? Pretend all this never happened? Us against them?” 

With a wry laugh she replied, “Yeah too bad, you know  _ way _ more about me than I know about you.” She looked away, she couldn’t take seeing his judging stare. Seeing him undress her eyes as he imagined those pictures.

“Ellie-,” he waited for her to look back at him, “all I know is that Thomas is an ass, and you’re better off without him. I don’t know, nor have I  _seen_ anything else.” He put an emphasis on the word as if he knew exactly what she was worried about. 

Her heart fluttered at the thought, he didn’t see her photos. He liked talking to her, for her. She gave a quick nod since words escaped her. 

“Ok...now, wanna get out of here? I’ve heard people kinda suck at this school, let’s not be here longer than we need to.” He stood and held out his hand once more.

When she grasped it, she still felt the spark but she was prepared this time. He effortlessly helped her out of the deep chair and kept their hands linked as they went to leave. One thing kept bothering her though, “So where have you been? I haven’t seen you around since...” she trailed off, not able to say the word,  _ prom _ .

He turned his face towards her and waggled his eyebrows, “Oh you’ve been looking for me?”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Ugh never mind, I take it back.”

Laughing—the sound of which was literally music to her ears—he replied more seriously, “I got suspended last week.”

He didn’t add anything more, but so many pieces clicked in that moment. She hadn’t understood Thomas’ black eye, well really the whole side of his face, last week, but did Nick...?

“Did you punch Thomas after I left?” It was more of a demand than a question.

Rubbing his jaw with his free hand, his eyes dropped to his feet, “uhhhh, maybe?” He glanced up at her quickly, looking slightly afraid of her response.

Smiling she couldn’t help it when a laugh bubbled out, soon enough they were both cackling. “I should be mad, but I’m not. Thank you, Nick.”

“Anytime, Ellie anytime.” And the fierce look in his eyes did nothing to her, at least that’s what she’d tell anyone else watching. They couldn’t feel her pulse race, breathing quicken, body yearning. 


End file.
